Currently, independent consent for marriage in Texas begins at age 18. Parental consent must be obtained to get a marriage license at ages 16 and 17. A judge's approval can permit a marriage at any age in the state of Texas.

Senate Bill 1705 from this year's legislative session would prohibit a person under the age of 18 from marrying, unless a judge consents, and set a statutory age "floor" at 16. The bill is now sitting on the desk of Governor Greg Abbott, waiting for a signature.

How do young people end up being coerced into matrimony? What are the legal and emotional ramifications of this kind of forced union?

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Some girls in Texas, as young as 12 years old, are being forced to marry men much older than they are. And then they are living a life of servitude and exploitation. It’s sounds like a Margaret Atwood novel but it’s a reality in Texas. In Texas, 6.9 of every 1,000 teens between ages 15 and 17 married in 2014, second only to West Virginia

Senate Bill 1705, if passed into law, would make anyone getting married under the age of 18 more difficult.

Jeanne Smoot is a legislative counsel with the Tahirih Justice Center which has been at the forefront of changing the law.